Have Bad Breath? You Can Do Something About It!

Bad breath is something that is not well tolerated by most people. You hear the complaints all of the time. Yet, those complaints are seldom made to the offending party.

Since this problem is generally one that a person is unaware of, not telling them virtually guarantees the problem will continue. We get used to the smell of our own breath and if it is bad, there is often little chance of finding out unless someone tells us.

We often think that bad breath is a problem that others have. For the above mentioned reason, we may seldom consider ourselves as a candidate for having bad breath.

Halitosis can be situational or chronic. Situational would be the smell you have on your breath after drinking coffee or alcohol. Chronic is generally that caused by the bacteria in our mouths. Each person may have a different population of bacteria. Some are relatively benign, while others cause bad breath and possibly other dental health issues.

Here Is What You Can Do

It is beneficial to recognize that other people have this problem too. Many people are in this boat. Since most researchers and dental professionals believe that the majority of chronic bad breath is caused by bacteria in the mouth, it would be helpful to learn how to reduce that bacteria.

It is not really possible nor practical to get rid of bacteria in the mouth completely. Therefore, your mind set might shift to one of reducing the ‘bad’ bacteria and supporting the good bacteria.

Reducing the Bad

The ‘bad’ bacteria are often anaerobic in nature. It is their waste secretions that contain the chemicals that our nose identifies as bad breath. Acidic foods and drinks cause these little beasts to grow more rapidly. Therefore, balancing our mouth pH after eating or drinking is something we can do to help the situation.

The bad bacteria also enjoy a lack of oxygen. They can avoid the oxygen by hiding in places like the folds of our tongue or underneath plaque.

Using an oxygenated mouthwash and \ or toothpaste can be beneficial. Oxygen tends to stop them from secreting their sour waste products. If the same toothpaste or mouthwash is pH balanced, so much the better!

Helping the Good to Thrive

“Good bacteria” and “bad bacteria”, we have heard those terms before. The truth is that we have developed a symbiotic relationship with some types of bacteria. Most people have heard about the good bacteria in our gut that need to be replenished when we take antibiotics. The same principle applies to our mouths. By colonizing our mouths with good bacteria, there is less room for ‘bad’ bacteria to take root and build a colony.